Max Lucado Daily: THREE IMPORTANT WORDS: DON’T GIVE UP!
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, had a task to do—Jesus’ body had to be prepared for burial.
Matthew 28:2 says, “At that time there was a strong earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven, went to the tomb, and rolled the stone away from the entrance.” Did the angel roll away the rock for Jesus? Did God have to have help? I don’t think so. Then the angel says to the women, “Come and see the place where his body was.” The stone was moved—not so Jesus could come out, but so the women could see in!
Just when the road was too dark for Mary Magdalene and Mary, the angel glowed and the Savior showed, and they were forever changed. The lesson? Three words: Don’t give up! God still sends angels and He still moves stones.
Read more He Still Moves Stones
Psalm 26
A David Psalm
26 Clear my name, God;
I’ve kept an honest shop.
I’ve thrown in my lot with you, God, and
I’m not budging.
2 Examine me, God, from head to foot,
order your battery of tests.
Make sure I’m fit
inside and out
3 So I never lose
sight of your love,
But keep in step with you,
never missing a beat.
4-5 I don’t hang out with tricksters,
I don’t pal around with thugs;
I hate that pack of gangsters,
I don’t deal with double-dealers.
6-7 I scrub my hands with purest soap,
then join hands with the others in the great circle,
dancing around your altar, God,
Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,
telling God-stories.
8-10 God, I love living with you;
your house glows with your glory.
When it’s time for spring cleaning,
don’t sweep me out with the quacks and crooks,
Men with bags of dirty tricks,
women with purses stuffed with bribe-money.
11-12 You know I’ve been aboveboard with you;
now be aboveboard with me.
I’m on the level with you, God;
I bless you every chance I get.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, March 07, 2019
Today's Scripture & Insight: 1 Kings 19:9-13
He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep.
Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”
10 “I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
11-12 Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”
A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.
13-14 When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” Elijah said it again, “I’ve been working my heart out for God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, because the people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed your places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
Insight
Elijah’s meeting with the Lord on “Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:8) was not the first time the Lord met with one of His servants in that place. Centuries earlier the Lord had met Moses there. “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1). At Horeb the Lord revealed Himself to Moses and commissioned him to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt (vv. 2–12). The mountain we mostly associate Moses with is Mount Sinai (19:18–20). But passages like Deuteronomy 4:10 help us to see that Horeb and Sinai are used synonymously and interchangeably in Scripture. Two of the Lord’s chosen servants met Him on that mountain and departed to do His will in His strength. By: Arthur Jackson
Escaping the Noise
After the fire came a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19:12
Several years ago, the president of a college suggested that students join her in “powering down” for an evening. Although the students agreed, it was with great reluctance that they laid aside their cell phones and entered the chapel. For the next hour, they sat quietly in a service of music and prayer. Afterward, one participant described the experience as “a wonderful opportunity to calm down . . . a place to just tune out all of the extra noise.”
Sometimes, it’s difficult to escape “extra noise.” The clamor of both our external and internal worlds can be deafening. But when we’re willing to “power down,” we begin to understand the psalmist’s reminder of the necessity to be still so we can know God (Psalm 46:10). In 1 Kings 19, we discover as well that when the prophet Elijah looked for the Lord, he didn’t find Him in the pandemonium of the wind or the earthquake or the fire (vv. 9–13). Instead, Elijah heard God’s gentle whisper (v. 12).
Extra noise is practically guaranteed during celebrations. When families and friends come together, it’s likely a time of animated conversations, excess food, boisterous laughter, and sweet expressions of love. But when we quietly open our hearts, we find that time with God is even sweeter. Like Elijah, we’re more likely to encounter God in the stillness. And sometimes, if we listen, we too will hear that gentle whisper. By Cindy Hess Kasper
Today's Reflection
What will help you draw close to God in silence and solitude? How can you regularly “power down” both your devices and your busy mind?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 07, 2019
The Source of Abundant Joy
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. —Romans 8:37
Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul said this is the reason that “in all these things we are more than conquerors.” We are super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.
Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against— tribulation, suffering, and persecution— are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through Him” “in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4).
The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change. And the experiences of life, whether they are everyday events or terrifying ones, are powerless to “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, March 07, 2019
How to Improve Your Man - #8389
Now here's a memory for your summer vacation scrapbook. You got kissed by a dolphin. No thank you. But it happens to people at SeaWorld. At least when I was there they were doing it. You know, it's that park where you can see the fish and the seals, etc. doing these amazing tricks. Those dolphins are really something. I watched them jump through hoops (I wish you could get your kids to do that), they'll dance on their tails, and did I mention jumping out of the water and kissing tourists? Yeah. But if you want to understand why they do all this neat stuff, you have to watch what they do after each trick. They swim around the pool and straight for the guy with the bag. You know what's in that bag. Fish! Yummy fish! If you want a dolphin to do something, give him a fish and he'll do it again! Men are a lot like that.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Improve Your Man."
I really do think my half of the human race has a lot in common with those dolphins. If you give us a fish when we do something good, we'll want to jump through that hoop again.
Some women seem to believe that the best way to get their man to improve is to nag him into it, to shame him into it, or to criticize him into doing it. The Bible describes two kinds of women in Proverbs 14:1: "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." There are some things that a woman does that build the people she cares about, and there are others that tear them down.
Now there's no question every man needs a lot of work. We know that. But if you approach your husband like your personal home improvement project, like "I've got to fix this guy!" you'll probably keep him from changing. Is it stubbornness? Ego? Deafness? I'm not sure, but I do know that when a man is pushed, he tends to go the other way, not come your way.
Part of love is what I call "mirroring" - holding up a mirror to the person you love and letting them know what you see when you look at them. We tend to be a lot better at mirroring the things we don't like than some of the good things about that person. But it's in affirming the good that we give a person the courage and the encouragement to work on the rest.
Proverbs 31 contains God's description of a woman who's got it right. And, after all, He invented man and woman! In Proverbs 31, beginning with verse 10, our word for today from the Word of God, He says, "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and he lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life." This woman continues to bring value and confidence and good into her husband's life. And it pays off. It says, "Her husband is respected at the city gate. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, he praises her."
I guess if you want to improve your man, bring him good, bring him value. Tell him what's good about him. Praise him when he does something right, even if it's just a tiny improvement. Give him a fish if you want him to do it some more. Or, as my wife has often said, "Water what you want to grow."
When you consistently have a ministry of encouragement and affirmation in your man's life, he feels safe. And, look, we're insecure. We're not going to risk changing unless we're in a place where we feel safe. If he feels safe and valued by you, he's a lot more likely to listen when you need to tell him something that's hard to hear. He'll know you love him and he'll know that you want him to be the best man he can possibly be.
Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, had a wonderful outlook on this. She said, "It's my job to love Billy. It's God's job to change him!" Well, that says it better than I ever could.